Green team envisions landscaping Downtown 2010

Budding trees, birds chirping, colorful daffodils and tulips waving in the warm breezes. These are visions of spring, the season that promises renewal and rebirth, our reward for enduring another winter in Central Illinois.

Have your heard? There is a promise of a new life, the Phoenix rising up from a vacant 88 acre piece of land once occupied by Caterpillar Inc. factories and offices, as it is developed into East Peoria’s Downtown 2010.

Enter the East Peoria City Green Team, whose mission statement is to create an environmental stewardship policy, which is intended to create long-term environmental benefits through sustainable practices and policies.

The team, formed in April 2008, has past accomplishments, including promoting the city recycling program; solar panels in the police squad cars; moving to LED lights at the Parade of Lights; watt voltage meter rentals at the library; and submission of local businesses for the new Green Business of the Year Award.

Downtown 2010 will be one of the largest “green” opportunities in our city. With such a massive project, there are many areas for the team to research. As a member of the team, I chose a portion of the sustainable site area, in what I thought was “gardening and landscaping.”

I admit I have a great deal of interest in this area as an amateur gardener, thanks to my parents’ love of nature. In my early research, with “landscape” assignment in hand, I sought out experts from several areas. I wanted Downtown 2010 to be great. I am a proud citizen of East Peoria, and I wanted others to be proud as well.

I began with Ginny Gibbs, Illinois Central College ag and horticultural technician. She suggested details on types and placement of trees, fountains, irrigation systems, green roofs, Brownfield planting, various lighting requirements and a host of other ideas on making Downtown 2010 a focal point for the community.

The next stop on my journey was an interview with Donna Cothrell from the University of Illinois Extension Office and one of our city’s Master Gardeners. Usage of the land would play a big part on how and what was planted. Among the other items discussed were permeable surfaces and water management. She also cautioned that once you plant, you have to maintain the area.

Seeking additional perspectives, I contacted Chris Golden, a representative of the Heart of Illinois Sierra Club, who gave me specific native grasses and perennials for consideration.

There were other ideas from garden periodicals and www.Arborday.com on how to plant trees with more “green” consideration (next to buildings to save energy; smaller and faster-growing varieties near air conditioner units; and native species). I also discovered that the Fondulac District Library has a variety of “green” books to check out.  Local nurseries also offer gardening classes.

Let’s visualize our future Civic Plaza. Are your aware of the East Peoria Beautification Flower Sale? Twice a year, the city offers East Peoria residents very inexpensive and beautiful flower bulbs, plants and native trees. Could this sale be moved to our new site? Perhaps some of the plants could be located in the site as well.

I soon realized there was far more to learn about this subject than just traditional gardens and landscape. As I became more involved with the Green Team, I was introduced to LEED.
LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building project and site meet the highest green building and performance measures.

This includes information on Brownfields, the classification of our Downtown 2010 site and many other green areas. You can learn more by visiting www.usgbc.gov. Or you can contact Anthony Corso, director of Green

Building Programs and sustainability coordinator at Anthony.corso@icc.edu.

Government grants and programs are available to defray some of the initial start-up costs for green projects. Members of the team have worked tirelessly to research and submit applications to lessen the financial impact of Downtown 2010.

In February, Ty Livingston, East Peoria director of planning and community development, invited landscape architects “to come up with a theme for the space between West Washington and Camp Streets, i.e. a streetscape. This creates a sense of place.” Details for the streetscape portion of the project is available at the city’s Web site, city of eastpeoria.com.

Do you feel like becoming involved in your community? A quote I recently heard seems to fit: “We all strive to be part of something great!”

Now is the time for YOU to make a difference. Let’s take 88 acres of downtown East Peoria from brown to green!